House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. is framed through the marble statue of Lewis Cass, representing Michigan, by Daniel Chester French; as she gestures while speaking during a news conference in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, Cass, 1782?1866, served as territorial governor, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of War, as was known as ?the Father of Popular Sovereignty." (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) less

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. is framed through the marble statue of Lewis Cass, representing Michigan, by Daniel Chester French; as she gestures while speaking during a news conference in ... more

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Associated Press

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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. is framed through the marble statue of Lewis Cass, representing Michigan, by Daniel Chester French; as she gestures while speaking during a news conference in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, Cass, 1782?1866, served as territorial governor, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of War, as was known as ?the Father of Popular Sovereignty." (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) less

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. is framed through the marble statue of Lewis Cass, representing Michigan, by Daniel Chester French; as she gestures while speaking during a news conference in ... more

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Associated Press

Boehner may be bending on taxes - a bit

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Washington --

Democrats and Republicans seized on November's job numbers Friday to press for a compromise on a deficit deal, as Speaker John Boehner opened the door slightly to tax-rate increases as part of a broad fiscal package.

Boehner, meeting with reporters, declined to rule out a rise in the top income-tax rate below the level that President Obama wants, only to reiterate later that his opposition to tax-rate increases remained unchanged. That suggested a possibility that although he opposes higher tax rates, they could still end up in a final package, given enough compromise by the White House on spending.

"There are a lot of things that are possible to put the revenue that the president seeks on the table," Boehner said when asked about an increase in the top tax rate short of the 39.6 percent level of the Clinton era. "But none of it's going to be possible if the president insists on his position, insists on 'my way or the highway.' "

Boehner later released a statement saying: "As I've said many, many, many times: I oppose tax rate increases because tax rate increases cost American jobs. That has not changed, and will not change."

Publicly, neither side indicated progress toward a deal ahead of the end-of-the-month deadline for averting a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts. But talks continued.

Boehner continued to say that his opposition to allowing the top two rates to rise from 33 percent and 35 percent to 36 percent and 39.6 percent stems from fears of the impact on small businesses that pay ordinary income tax rates, not the corporate tax rate. About 97 percent of small businesses do not turn enough profit to be affected, but Republicans note that more than half of small-business income - from the most profitable businesses, partnerships and limited liability corporations - would be hit by the increases.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, countered that after 33 straight months of gains in private-sector jobs, employment was now threatened by Republican refusal to pass Senate legislation extending Bush-era tax cuts for 98 percent of American households - but not the top 2 percent.

"The only obstacles standing in the way of middle-income tax relief are Republicans' unwillingness to ask the top 2 percent to pay their fair share," she said.

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